Senior Associate, Western Highlands -- CNCG, TREES
The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Based in New York City, with offices throughout the United States and worldwide, the Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers.
Climate, Nature and Communities in Guatemala (CNCG) will assist in the development of a process to mitigate the impacts of climate change in Guatemala -- improving management of natural resources and conservation of biodiversity, building institutional and technical capacity, and strengthening the policy and legal framework necessary for the country to respond to climate change. The project will strengthen the capacity of local organizations to address biodiversity, forest conservation and sustainable land management and address issues related to food security, adaptation, environmental certification, income-generating opportunities, and low emissions development strategies.
The Rainforest Alliance’s TREES (Training, Extension, Enterprises and Sourcing) program promotes sustainable livelihoods and protects biodiversity in forest-dependent communities. We work to enhance the competitiveness of community and indigenous forestry enterprises by building business skills, increasing efficiencies, and facilitating investment in value-added processing, expanding income opportunities from wood and non-wood forest products and environmental services, and increasing access to local and global markets through Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
The Senior Associate, Western Highlands will be responsible of coordinating and supervising the implementation of Objectives 1, 2 and 4 of CNCG in the Western Highlands region, and of providing technical assistance and guidance to related work teams. S/he will maintain full cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, the leader of CNCG project in this region. S S/he will also be responsible of coordinating all other TREES program’s projects in the region which are cost share to CNCG. S/he will coordinate with Administration Manager, Mesoamerica to ensure that the administrative needs of Rainforest Alliance’s office in the Western Highlands are met. S/he will provide guidance, technical support, and supervision to all TREES technical staff in this region.
- Represent TREES in the Western Highlands region;
- Develop annual and quarterly work plans detailing activities to be carried out, and outputs and results to be achieved in accordance with the CNCG, TREES, and donor requirements in this region;
- Implement and/or oversee the proper implementation of CNCG objectives 1, 2, and 4 and other TREES projects in this region;
- Supervise the quality and timeliness of this region´s Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) monitoring and evaluating outputs and outcomes related to existing projects;
- Supervise technical staff and manage subgrants and/or consulting agreements hired under CNCG in this region;
- Coordinate with other CNCG implementing partners in this region, starting with The Nature Conservancy as the lead of CNCG in the region, as well as with local NGOs that will contribute to achieve CNCG results;
- Coordinate the provision of training and technical assistance related to TREES projects in the region;
- Oversee the negotiation of Memorandums of Understanding with the communities and companies that are part of value chains;
- Provide support to the development of new project/funding proposals as required by Guatemala TREES; and
- Other duties as assigned.
- Degree in Business Administration, Economics, Forestry Engineering or similar, with emphasis in community and rural development;
- 5-7 year minimum of proven experience in coordinating teams, managing sustainable forestry initiatives, and/or community forestry management;
- 5 year minimum experience working in the Western Highlands region;
- Knowledge and experience in forestry certification is preferred;
- Excellent analytical and problem solving skills;
- Strong written and verbal language skills in Spanish; English skills are desirable;
- Ability to adapt to multi-cultural situations;
- Strong computer skills (MS-Office);
- Willingness and availability to travel at 50% of time to local CBOs/SMEs; and
- Live in the Western Highlands region.
Commensurate with experience.
Only candidates authorized to work in Guatemala will be considered.
Send resume, cover letter and salary history to Human Resources, Rainforest Alliance, 8 Avenida 15-62, zona 10, Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala 01010. Fax: (502) 2383-5777; E-mail: guatemalapersonnel@ra.org. If emailing, use the following format in the subject line: first name and last name, job title of position you are applying for.
The Rainforest Alliance is an equal opportunity employer.